Miami Palms Blog

The Palms could feel good about this game pretty early, as Jaspero Gonzalez hit a grand slam in the 2nd inning off of Blake Snell. Manny Parra wasn't great, but he was efficient, working all 9 innings and scattering 5 hits while striking out 7. 6 Palms had multi hit games, including Chris Korb who had 3, including a triple.  Miami Palms 8, Tampa Bay Rays 3  Friday, March 30, 2018  Tampa Bay Rays (0-1)                                     Miami Palms (1-0)                                        Player          AB R  H BI BB SO  P  A  E LOB...

Chris Korb has now settled into a role as the every day third baseman for the Palms for the last half decade, and Miami knows the pop they can expect. He has a sure glove and a strong arm at the hot corner, and while his average is modest, he does have a little pop to his bat. All of these factors are more important because he does it from the left side of the plate. The Palms will also appreciate his stability going forward, with some staples like Tony Abreu and Brett Hayes ready to hang up their spikes at year’s end.

Opening day finally came to Miami, and it provided a thriller. The Palms fell behind early, with the Rays grinding out their 4 runs against Jarod Lantz across 6 innings. Kevin Kiermeyer had a pair of RBI. The Palms got on the board with a 2 run Brett Hayes home run but they needed a clutch RBI single from Nick Markakis and a run scoring bases loaded ground out from Jaspero Gonzalez to collect the opening day win. (There were some crossed wires when it came to the statistics, check back with the next game for corrected stats)  Miami Palms 5, Tampa Bay Rays 4  Thursday, March 29, 2018  Tampa Bay Rays (0-1)                                     Miami Palms (1-0)                       ...

The Palms will use Blake Johnston as their 5th starter this season, even after an offseason in which they scoured the market for updates to the staff. Johnston's 5 years as a starter gave some hope of a bounceback after a long 5 year career as a starter with the Palms, and nearly a decade on the staff. Johnston has always been a fly ball pitcher, but his homers allowed really spiked in 2017. So too, however, did his strikeout rate, and the Palms hope that can carry over with a reduction to the longball.